Monday, July 22, 2013

vipassana - looking forward

Just last week, I received a confirmation for the vipassana meditation course that starts day after tomorrow. It is 10 days of meditation and the testing part about this course is that you aren't allowed to speak to anybody during this period. No phones or emails either. And in case you are wondering, this has nothing to do with religion, caste or belief in God. It is just a technique that helps you live & transform your life and it's open for all.

I have been struggling with a lot of things over the past few months so thought this will really do me good to cleanse my system. After doing some research on the course on various blogs and websites, I learnt that it helps you to focus on the present moment and to see things "as they are" which is what "vipassana" literally means. I need to learn to focus on the present moment so much!

Seeing things "as they are" is so important because a lot of times, we perceive things as per the stories we have built around them in our head, completely ignoring their true form. This is something I must learn to do all the time.

There are some rules of vipassana that I already follow though.. one of them is to always speak the truth. Now, I do almost always speak the truth when it comes to others but this involves being true to yourself too and a lot of times, we don't realise it but we aren't true to ourselves or to the present moment. The other rule is to lose the importance of 'self' or 'ego'. This is something I have been practising since quite sometime now as it helps to accept/transform dark thoughts such as anger, resentment, revenge, jealousy etc. Everyone has a dark side and it is important to embrace it all the same. Just the other day, Reeti & I were discussing how we almost naturally think of what is good "universally" and not just about what is good for ourselves. Sometimes, though, the ego can get the better of us and we need to work on ourselves again.

So a lot of spiritual healing & cleansing awaits us. I am doing this with another friend of mine (Alisha) so that's some comfort. Though I won't really get to speak with her, it's nice to have someone you know around. Worried about the nights as I am not used to spending nights alone especially in an unfamiliar place. Hope they put me in with someone. A partition is okay too. I should just be able to reach out to someone!

Excited and nervous both. Wish me luck. Might blog about the experience once I get back! :)

To know more, visit http://www.dhamma.org/

And for the course schedule (for the Mumbai centre), click here: http://courses.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schpattana

2 comments:

Pradeep Mohandas said...

well? did you go??

Anubha said...

@Pradeep
I did.. but my experience wasn't a very good one. Might blog about it shortly.